Accent Theory Flashcards
Varieties Revision
Explain what accent is
Accent is the sounds that you make when you are speaking.
What does ‘IPA’ stand for?
International Phonetic Alphabet
There is a divide in England between the north and the _ _ _ _ _
South
The northern pronunciation of ‘bath’ is?
baeth
What is the southern pronunciation of bath?
ba:th
What is the southern pronunciation of ‘put’
p^t
What is the term for when an accent doesn’t include /h/ at the start of words such as ‘hospital’?
‘h-dropping’
What is the symbol for a glottal stop?
/?/
The glottal stop sound has been spreading rapidly throughout many English accents over the last few decades in process known as
‘t-glottalisation.’
How is the the final sound in ‘car’ pronounced in London, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle?
/a:/
In much of South West England and a small pocket in North West Lancashire, the final vowel sound in concrete noun ‘car’ is it pronounced as
/r/
In much of South West England and a small pocket in North West Lancashire, the final vowel sound in concrete noun ‘car’ is it pronounced as as /car/. What is this term known as?
‘post vocalic r’
Accents that contain the ‘non-prevocalic r’ or ‘post vocalic r’ are called?
rhotic accents
What did Labov look at in his Department Story Study?
The link between accent and overt prestige
Which sound did Labov investigate?
The pronunciation of the ‘non-pre-vocalic’ /r/
Whose accent did Labov investigate?
The speech of New York shop assistants.
The shop assistants had to repeat their answer of ‘fourth floor’ to see if their pronunciation had changed. What does this tell us about their speech?
Their speech had become careful rather than spontaneous.
What are the names of the stores that Labov carried out his experiment in?
Saks (upper class). Macy (middle class) Kleins (lower class)
Which store used the /r/ sound the most?
Saks, the upper class store.
Which store used the /r/ sound the least?
Klein’s, the lower class store.
Which shop showed the greatest change from the low prestige form to the high prestige when asked to repeat themselves.
Macy’s
The findings from Labov’s study suggests that accent is dependent on class as well as _ _ _ _ _ _
region
The findings from Labov’s study suggests that accent is dependent on _ _ _ _ _ _ as well as region
gender
The findings from Labov’s study suggests that people choose to change their accent in order to appear to be of a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ class
Higher
The findings from Labov’s study suggests that people change their accent when they’re being _ _ _ _ _ _ _ about their speech.
careful
In Martha’s Vineyard’s Study, what is the name of the group of people who live on the island with their families and who work in the island’s traditional fishing industry?
The Chilmark Fishermen
In Martha’s Vineyard’s Study, what is the name of the people who live on the island but moved there as adults. They’re usually rich and most are well-educated.
The Islanders
Wat does Labov call the tourists who visit the island in the summer. They’re ordinary people from all over America or from other countries. The islanders and the Chilmark Fishermen find them annoying.
The Summer People
Why is the change in vowel sounds (in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study) seen as odd?
Because the changes described here are to a more low prestige form despite the fact that the island was often crammed with posh visitors who use high-prestige forms.
What did Labov (in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study) find about the people who used the low prestige sound the most?
The people who used these sounds the most were the older fishermen who worked on the island and realised that this was part of the traditional accent of the island.
Why did the islanders change their accent?
The accent marked them as different from the summer people whom the islanders resented.
The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ as well as region affects accent
identity
The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ as well as region affects accent
Prestige
The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that we use accents to mark _ _ _ _ _ membership
Group
The findings in Labov’s Martha’s Vineyard’s Study suggest that we use accents to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ourselves from groups.
Distance
Social network theory looks at the effect that the _ _ _ _ and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of your social group has on your language.
Size and diversity
Your ‘social network’ is the people you know and the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ between them.
relationships
If the people you know tend to know each other, what kind of network do you have?
A closed network
If the people who you know haven’t met each other, what type of network do you have?
An open network
If the people you know are either friends, or relatives or workmates or people in your class, the connections between you are U _ _ _ _ _ _
Uniplex
If the people you know are friends, and you go to college together and you work together and you play football together, the connections between you are _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Multiplex
A “_ _ _ _ “ is normal, expected behaviour
norm
A “_ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mechanism” is the thing that pressures you to obey the norms.
norm-enforcement
Where did Milroy and Milroy conduct their study?
Belfast
Which social class did Milroy and Milroy investigate?
Working class
Milroy and Milroy gave each individual studied a “Network _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Score” according to to how open or closed their network was.
Strength
After giving each individual studied a “Network Strength Score” according to how open or closed their network was, Milroy and Milroy then measured each person’s use of Belfast _ _ _ _ _ _ features.
Accent
In Milroy and Milroy’s study, the vowel /ae/ in ‘hat,’ becomes?
/ ): /
Milroy and Milroy found that people with a high Network Strength Score, (i.e. those with closed network), used the features of the Belfast accent _ _ _ _ than those with a low score (i.e. an open network)
More
Milroy and Milroy claimed that which network function as norm-enforcement mechanisms.
closed networks
Milroy and Milroy claimed that which gender used more Belfast accent features?
Men
Milroy and Milroy claimed that men used more accent features because they were more likely to belong to _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ social networks associated with traditional working class male roles.
tight-knit
Which gender used less accent features?
Women
Why did women usually used fewer Belfast accent features than men?
Because they belonged to less dense social networks.
What is the name of the theorist who came up with the accommodation theory?
Howard Giles
Convergence is when speakers change their speech so that it is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ their interlocutor’s.
more like
Convergence d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the social distance between people.
decreases
Divergence is when speakers change their speech so that it’s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the person they’re speaking to
less like
Divergence has the effect of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ differences between people.
emphasising
Who came up with the Cardiff Study?
Coupland
Coupland found that there is a predictable link between the accent of a Cardiff speaker and their education and _ _ _ _ _ _
Income
The use of glottalisation, g-dropping, h-dropping, and the flapped /t/, all increase the _ _ _ _ _ the speakers’ class
Lower
Nik Coupland recorded a travel agent at work in the city and observed the way that she changed her accent to suit her clients. What did he call this?
Style shifting
Coupland discovered that the recording of the travel agent’s speech was almost as _ _ _ _ an indicator of the client’s region (Cardiff, Bristol, Valleys) as the clients’ own speech.
Good
Coupland discovered that the travel agent’s choice of accent was also as good an indicator of the clients’ education and _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Social status
